Wednesday, April 4, 2012

BACKGROUND: Only the most demented among Maryland politicos could enjoy following the longstanding endorsement rivalry between The Washington Post and Montgomery County's teachers union (aka MCEA). If you happen to be one of these deranged politicos, note that last night's Board of Education results in Montgomery County are a mixed bag for both The Washington Post and MCEA.

In both the Board of Education District 2 and At-Large races, voters were asked to choose only one candidate in each race. These "primaries" are non-partisan, and so in both the District 2 and At Large races, the top two finishers will appear on the November General Election ballot.

Board of Education District 2 (Vote for One): For the District 2 race, MCEA endorsed two candidates: Fred Evans and Jeanne Ellinport. Meanwhile, The Washington Post endorsed Rebecca Smondrowski. This skirmish will continue into November, as Fred Evans and Rebecca Smondrowski are the top two finishers in the unofficial vote totals. The 2nd MCEA-backed candidate Jeanne Ellinport trails Smondrowski by 451 votes, which representsover half of a percentage point difference between the two candidates.

Fred Evans - 16,495 (24.8%) - MCEA Endorsed

Rebecca Smondrowski - 14,938 (22.4%) - Washington Post Endorsed

Jeanne Ellinport - 14,487 (21.7%) - MCEA Endorsed

Susan Byrne - 13,828 (20.8%)

Saqib Ali - 6,878 (10.3%)

Board of Education At Large (Vote for One): In the Board of Education At Large race, MCEA-backed incumbent Phil Kauffman dominated the primary election, winning over 60% of the vote. His nearest challenger, The Washington Post-backed Morris Panner, was over 42 points behind. Nevertheless, the At Large school board race is another race where MCEA and The Washington Post-backed candidates took the top two spots. That means this skirmish will also continue into November.

MD Juice News Feed:

This blog predates my campaign committee and is substantially unrelated to electioneering, but just in case, you can consider certain posts "By Authority: Friends of David Moon. Chair: Marlana Valdez. Treasurer: Usman Ahmed."